


Learning Curve

by heartsdesire456



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M, Non-Explicit Sex, Past Abuse, References to Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-11
Updated: 2012-09-11
Packaged: 2017-11-14 00:37:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/509458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After five months of no word, Bruce Banner shows up at Stark Tower hoping to get a little time in Tony's lab to work on an experiment. However, what he finds at the tower is a lot more than an empty work bench. After weeks of living in the same building as Tony, more than science happens between them. Although, love is often described as a chemical reaction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning Curve

**Author's Note:**

> THIS is the Science Boyfriends I've WANTED to write for a good long while. However, you may notice a few loose ends left dangling! This fic is meant to have a sequel that shall hopefully be posted in the near future. However, it is entirely a story on it's own, no cliffhanger endings or anything that would make it unpleasant of a story on it's own.

It had been five months since Bruce left New York. Truth be told, he hadn’t expected to return to the city so soon. However, after a few weeks trying to work on a new theory with only his brain and limited resources, he finally accepted that it was futile to ignore the fact that he had been extended an open invitation to have access to the absolute highest technology in the world’s most expansive privately owned laboratories at Stark Tower. As he walked towards the great beacon in the sky, the tower gleaming high above the streets, he wondered if Tony would still be open to letting him play with his favorite toys for a little while.

As he entered the gilded lobby, he shook his head at the dramatic grandeur his friend liked to surround himself with. He approached a front desk, smiling awkwardly when the woman sitting behind the desk eyed his dusty clothes and ratty backpack with clear disdain. “Can I help you, sir?” she asked, and Bruce but his lip.

“Uh, maybe. I’m supposed to see Mr. Stark? My name is Banner,” he tried and the woman narrowed her eyes suspiciously before typing something in. 

She looked at something on her screen and smirked. “I don’t see an appointment for a Banner for Mr. Stark at all,” she said and Bruce nodded.

“Um, yeah, I don’t really have one? I was just trying to get in touch,” he said and she leveled him with a look.

“Sir, you really can’t think a man like Mr. Stark sees anyone without an appointment-“ She was silenced as the phone rang. “Excuse me,” she said, pressing her ear piece, only to start some at whatever was said. “Sir?” she asked, frowning. “Yes, I did search the registry for the name ‘Banner’-“ She looked up at Bruce with wide eyes. “Yes, salt and pepper hair, dark eyes-“ She seemed absolutely appalled at whatever was being said before she straightened her face. “Yes, sir,” she said with an air of submission before removing her earpiece as she stood. “Come with me,” she said, and Bruce shuffled his feet awkwardly before hefting his bag to follow the woman across the lobby. They turned down a narrow hallway just behind the large fountain that took up the far wall of the lobby that seemed to be empty, door less, and windowless. At the end of the hall, Bruce saw to the left a hallway sloping downwards, quite possibly to a sub-level, and to the right, where the woman led him, an elevator. 

As they approached it, the doors dinged and slid open, revealing Tony Stark himself. “Bruce!” he said, holding up his hands- smudged black nearly up to his elbows- with a surprised smile on his face. “Hey buddy, I had no idea you were coming into town!” he exclaimed, walking out of the elevator to shake Bruce’s hand, clearly disregarding the black smudges- grease, Bruce noted- transferring from his hand to Bruce’s. He completely disregarded the woman who had led Bruce there as he turned and waved Bruce after him, back towards the elevator. “Come on, let’s at least get to my domain,” he said, only seeming to notice his hands when he pressed a code into the panel on the elevator door. “Oh, damn, sorry,” he said, nodding at Bruce’s dirty hand. “I was down in the garage building a new engine for one of my babies,” he said, and Bruce chuckled.

“Always hands on, huh?” he asked and Tony smirked.

“Of course I am, like I’m trusting someone else to do what my robots can’t!” He nodded at the elevator panel. “Future reference, this is the express up past all the offices and stuff straight to the lab floor. To get in from the ground floor, you just need to tell JARVIS your name and face the camera for recognition and bio-scanning,” he said and Bruce raised an eyebrow at Tony.

“My bio-information is set to give me access to your lab floor in your private elevator?” he asked and Tony shrugged.

“Well… yeah,” he said simply, smiling when the elevator stopped and the doors opened. “I told you, Bruce, this floor is all access to people smart enough to enjoy it and you, my friend, are one of the few people I’ve ever met who can keep up with me,” he said, leading Bruce down a hall between frosted glass walls that showed silhouettes of machines in laboratories on either side of them. “So, how’ve you been?” he asked Bruce, who shrugged, giving him a shy little smile.

“Just… living, I guess.” He looked up, eyes widening as they approached a gap in the frosted glass wall where the glass was clear with a door in the center. Past it, he could see nothing but lab equipment covering what appeared to be a fourth of the floor they were on. 

“Great, huh?” Tony asked and Bruce snapped out of his daze, giving Tony an apologetic look. Tony smirked and waved a hand. “Oh no, really. I’m way less interesting than these puppies,” he said, nodding at the door. “However, I figured we would head on up and let you settle in, take a breather,” he said, nodding at Bruce’s dusty, rumpled clothes and bag. “No offence, my friend, but you look dead on your feet.”

Bruce didn’t speak, choosing to just follow Tony. It was his building, after all. When they turned a corner away from the frosted glass hallway to reveal a more business-like hallway, he wasn’t at all surprised to see another elevator at the end. “Beauty of my building? Terribly complex elevator systems,” Tony said as they approached. “To get past the offices, you have to use my express elevator. To get to the offices, you have to take the public elevator. To get past the R&D floor you have another ‘less than public’ elevator. A lot of friends and a few research assistants and the odd college student that receives my grants get to come to the labs. Higher up, only people I _like_ get to come, and that’s this puppy,” he said as they entered the carriage. 

Bruce looked at the remaining buttons and was amused to see that it was, once again, only a handful of floors serviced by the elevator. “At least tell me you have a central fire escape stairwell that connects all floors,” he joked and Tony chuckled.

“Well, there’s no _need_ , the building is designed to be fireproof with my kind of work, but yes, there is a central stairwell, all the way top to bottom. However, the doors are literally covered by sliding wall that only opens if the fire alarm sounds on one of the floors.” He shrugged and nodded at the camera above the door. “I like my privacy, for obvious reasons.” The doors opened and they excited onto what appeared to be another business-centered floor. “Pepper’s command floor,” he explained and Bruce nodded. “And, another elevator change!” 

Bruce was more than amused at Tony’s damn near gleeful expression at how complicated his building was. “You enjoy annoying people,” he spoke, though he only meant to think it.

Tony chuckled. “Is that an actual question?” he prompted and Bruce gave him a smile for his trouble. “Now!” They found the next elevator just around the corner from the last. “This is the last one,” he said as they got inside. “From here on up, each floor has access codes given to specific research teams, certain people, and my master code,” he said. 

Bruce examined the panel and then actually let out a bark of laughter when he saw the elevator went to every floor, top to underground. “You really are an asshole, Tony,” he said and Tony just grinned to himself.

“Hey, this is my elevator. Below this floor? JARVIS has to approve of the elevator going down with an access code and an identity scan. Did you really think I would do all that walking just to go upstairs?” he asked, and Bruce rolled his eyes.

“Then what, is this one ‘hidden’ like the stairwell below Ms. Pott’s floor?” Bruce asked and Tony shook his head.

“No, it’s just tucked into an empty hallway on every floor and JARVIS is programmed to say ‘out of order’ to anybody who stumbles across it.” Tony pointed at the floor they were heading to as the panel went from a regular elevator panel to a graphic to show the carriage rising through the floors on the buildings blueprints. “Since our little ‘saving the world’ party earlier this year, I reassigned each member of the team a floor, see?” He pointed to where they were when the carriage came to a halt and the image shifted to highlight one floor and a message appeared across the screen reading ‘Greetings, Dr. Banner’. 

Bruce just blinked. “I have a _floor_ here?” he asked and Tony nodded brightly.

“Yes! And I personally hired decorators to make each one of you guys’ floors more homey. Yours is supposedly very tranquil, probably a lot of blue,” he said, humming. “Blue is tranquil, right?” he asked, and Bruce just fidgeted.

“So… are we leaving the elevator anytime soon?” he asked, and Tony’s face lit up.

“Yes! However, you need some info- JARVIS,” Tony said.

“Yes, sir,” a cool, accented voice said. “Mr. Banner, your passcode for your floor is ‘spicy guacamole’. However, as Mr. Stark is clearly going to get a black eye for making that your code, he also installed a system in my functions in which you can change your passcode at any time without his knowledge.”

Bruce shot Tony a speculative look and Tony chuckled. “Well, green, has a bit of a kick-“ Realization dawned on Bruce and he just shook his head, sighing.

“You’re not going to make me lose control, so please don’t start with the jokes,” he said with a tired lilt to his voice.

Tony just clapped his hands together. “No way, Jose! Now, give JARVIS the passcode, go get settled, and then come on up to my living room. Your bio-scan will get you past JARVIS on my floor, just not on everybody else’s. Too many people come to see me for me to make it private, but Pepper threatened to quit if I didn’t extend a possibility of privacy to the others.”

Bruce chuckled. “This has been an interesting meeting, Stark, that’s for sure,” he said before giving his passcode and exiting onto _his floor_. Of _Stark Tower_. Shit.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce was actually unsure of what to _do_ on the floor designated to him. Immediately outside the elevator landing, the small foyer was a pale blue with tan carpet, just as tranquil as Tony had suggested it might be. There was a hallway there was a doorway to the right that was made of frosted glass, showing nothing but the darkness inside the room. Straight ahead, however, the double doors drew his attention. Bruce crossed the foyer and looked at the panel next to the double doors. “Um… JARVIS, do I need another code?” he asked, feeling stupid talking to empty air.

“No, sir. The access panel is there just in case someone comes to your floor. Even if they have permission out of the elevator, it is only socially polite to allow you the option of turning away visitors from your apartment, Mr. Banner,” JARVIS’s cool voice spoke, and Bruce chuckled, turning the handle to open the doors. 

As he stepped into the apartment, he was absolutely astonished. He had been in Tony’s penthouse, but he had no idea there were other apartments nearly as nice in the building. The entry doors opened into a large, open yet cozy living room. It was made cozy in spite of the open expanse by very comfortable looking, less fashionable furniture, gray-blue walls with white trim, an electric fireplace made to look exactly like a brick fireplace against one wall, and an entire wall of bookcases with two large picture windows interrupting them. The living room looked nothing like most of the ultra-modern, ultra-sleek design of the building itself. From where the double doors opened in the corner of the room, straight ahead of him was an opening that stepped up into what looked like a kitchen. Along the wall to his right about half-way into the room, there was a hallway that was painted a soft tan color. He walked over to look down the hall and saw a door on the right and a door at the end of the hall. 

As he ventured down the hallway, he opened the door to the left and discovered what appeared to be a meditation area, if the pale green walls, white carpeted floors, lack of furniture, and presence of potted plants and a small Japanese style fountain in the corner were anything to go by. Bruce chuckled in amusement and shook his head as he turned to leave that room and head to the end of the hall. When he opened the door, the lights automatically came up to reveal probably the biggest bedroom Bruce had ever seen. The walls were a deep purple, leaving the room feeling smaller than it really was. The bed to his left was a large bed with a black leather headboard that went well with the dark purple walls and the white carpeted floors. There was a black entertainment system set opposite the bed, doors on either side of the room, and floor to ceiling glass along the outside of the building, giving him a view of all of Manhattan below his bedroom windows. He checked the doors and found one was a large closet and the other a monumentally expansive bathroom. The bathroom alone was larger than the hut he had been working and living in for the past five months. The black tile floors matched the tiles of the shower easily the size of his work area back in Bangladesh. 

When he went back out to the living room, he headed over into the kitchen, smiling when he saw a control panel on the outside of the refrigerator that read ‘JARVIS will order groceries for you, buddy!’ across the screen. “What the hell am I doing?” he asked himself out loud, only to jump and bang his knee on the island when he got a response.

“Dr. Banner, Mr. Stark requests you meet him at the elevator, sir,” JARVIS said without warning.

Bruce groaned, shaking is leg some as he turned. “Thank you, JARVIS,” he replied, heading to meet Tony. When he walked out of the door, he saw Tony just standing there. 

“See, I figured,” Tony said, smirking. “I got up and thought ‘hmm, Bruce will go for the big doors first’ so I decided to come back to watch you when you get to the best part!”

Bruce raised an amused eyebrow. “The best part? The apartment bigger than anything I’ve been in before isn’t it?” he asked and Tony nodded at the door with the frosted glass, which Bruce had all but forgot about. Bruce gave Tony a suspicious look as he walked over. He touched the luminous panel next to the door to light up the numbers. “Code?” he asked Tony, who just smirked.

“Atomic weight of iron to five digits,” he said and Bruce gave him an incredulous look.

“Only you could have so much of an ego,” he said, turning to enter ’55.845’ into the keypad, still shaking his head when the beep and click of the door lock releasing answered his code. “I’ve always wondered,” Bruce started as he pulled the door open. “Why are you called Iron Man anyways? I looked at your suit, it’s a gold-titanium alloy, iron would be too heavy for flight with the design you use. Not sustained any-“ He stopped as the lights started coming on and he saw where they were. “How?” he finished, though his meaning was clearly changed. He looked at Tony and then looked at the rather expansive laboratory. It was a clinical white, very clean and professional. High end equipment, some of which Bruce had actually never seen before, littered every surface apart from the odd work-table here and there. 

“Candy Land junior, the real Candy Land is above the penthouse” Tony said with a shrug, and Bruce turned to give him a confused look. Tony rolled his eyes at the distrust etched onto the man’s face. “It isn’t a trick Bruce, it’s just a lab-“

“Stark, you don’t even _know_ me-“ he started only to be interrupted.

“Does everybody miss the ‘billionaire’ and ‘philanthropist’ parts of my favorite tagline?!” Tony grumbled, walking a few feet to pull around a holo-screen, opening up some files. “Come here, I will show you how much I spend on engineering and physics scholarships around the country and let you compare that to what all is in this lab,” he said, shoving the screen around to face Bruce. “I know I’m self-centered, but I’m not greedy. I have _billions_ of dollars. I have more money than some entire nations, Dr. Banner, and as much as I love myself, I like other smart people.” He let Bruce look at the figures before swiping it clear.

“Tony, I get it, but you had no idea I would even come back here. Why didn’t you just give this equipment to a college or something?” he asked, and Stark smirked.

“Of course I knew you would be back. I tempted you with the lure of state of the art equipment and you have a doctorate in science. Eventually, something would give,” he said, leaning against the table behind him.

Bruce just chuckled weakly, walking around the lab, looking a little lost. “I barely know what some of this stuff is-“

“Probably because most of it was invented when I was designing the plans for Stark Tower,” Tony pointed out. “You’re smart though, you’ll figure it all out,” he said, sticking his hands in his pockets.

“I have a state of the art lab. In my apartment. Which combine to take up an entire floor of a skyscraper in a city I avoid like the plague,” Bruce said, shaking his head. “And to think I came looking for a few hours with clean beakers, a moderately powered microscope, and a spectrometer.”

Tony scoffed. “Your aims are so low. Raise the bar, buddy!” he said, then nodded. “I’ve got things to do, but come by the penthouse later, okay? We can catch up. Pepper might even come around to really meet you. Last time she didn’t really get to know you that well.”

Bruce nodded. “Sure,” he said, then turned when he heard the door open. “Hey Stark?” he called, and Tony stopped. Bruce gave him a small smile. “Thanks. For this… it’s all really just… too much.”

Tony just winked. “I like smart people, don’t worry about it.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
That evening, Bruce smiled when he came out of the elevator and was greeted by Pepper Potts coming towards him. “Dr. Banner, it’s great to see you came to visit,” she said and he was surprised to be met with a handshake and a smile, not uneasiness. Although, he did have to take into account that she’d put up with Tony Stark for years. “Just between you and me, I think Tony was really glad you came back,” she said in a lower voice, shooting a look out the balcony, where Tony was speaking animatedly to a robot while fixing a holo-panel. “He apparently didn’t really think he’d have to put up with anybody using their space in the tower, but when Director Fury basically made Steve start using his floor more often since it was safer for him to train there, Tony’s started moaning on about how the only one to use their floor so far is the least fun.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “I doubt I’m anybody’s idea of fun. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t really need access to the equipment. I just hope nobody knows I’m here and tries to provoke a response, because last time that happened in Manhattan… well-“

Pepper put a hand on his arm with a sympathetic smile. “Don’t worry, Tony breaks New York a lot, your ‘friend’ caused less damage than Tony ever will.” Bruce was amazed at how lightly the woman seemed to be taking his presence. 

“For the record,” Tony’s voice called out and Bruce looked up to see him coming inside. “I didn’t ‘break New York’, I just dented a few blocks of Manhattan,” he said, shrugging. “And I donated a decent sum to the NYPD for the whole ‘cop car frisbee’ thing.” Bruce gave him and Pepper alternating confused looks and Tony made a face. “Long story, not worth it, trust me,” he said with a flip of his hand. “Anyways, Ms. Potts, would you be so kind as to go order food for me? I forgot completely-“

“Tony! You told me you ordered takeout twenty minutes ago, I was expecting the delivery any time now-“

“I can’t help I forget time!” Tony argued, ignoring Pepper as he headed over to the bar. “I’m a genius, I fit more information into my brain than the average person, some things have to be sacrificed in turn,” he said, looking up as he put ice in his cup. “I just chose for those things to be time and tact,” he said, smirking about two seconds before Pepper growled in frustration and turned away.

“Excuse me, Dr. Banner,” she said with a put-upon look on her face. “I’ll be back soon,” she said before leaving the room.

Bruce chuckled, hands in his pockets awkwardly as he looked form where she had gone to Tony, who was pouring himself a drink. “So… Ms. Potts is kind of…”

“Overbearing?” Tony offered and Bruce chuckled.

“I was going to go with ‘strangely calm’,” Bruce countered, walking over to look out the window. “Not that often I show up in a place where people know what I am and don’t show any fear.”

Tony hummed. “No offense, Bruce, but you aren’t exactly the most intimidating guy,” he said, turning to grab a second glass. “What’s your poison? I’ve got the best scotch from this little distillery-“

“No thanks,” Bruce said, wringing his hands somewhat as he glanced at the glass in Tony’s hand. He gave him an awkward smile and shrugged some. “Not really a good idea to lower my guard.”

Tony looked appalled. “No alcohol? Bummer,” he said and Bruce could only raise an eyebrow at the absurdity of Tony’s use of ‘bummer’. “And as for Pepper’s indifference, she’s worked for me for _years_ ,” he stressed, tilting his head pointedly. “Even before Afghanistan, I pretty much put her through about as much as anybody could handle. Add her boss being presumed dead, said boss building an Iron Man suit and becoming a super hero, multiple instances of someone trying to kill her because of me, and that isn’t even counting all of my lab accidents just since Stark Tower’s been up and running,” he said, whistling. “If she can deal with all of that, I’m pretty sure she isn’t going to be afraid of the most polite nerd ever,” he concluded, giving Bruce a pointed look.

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “That ‘polite nerd’ has a temper you don’t want to mess with, though,” he added and Tony shrugged as if it was nothing. Bruce shook his head and laughed at the absurdity of the situation. “I swear, you and your girlfriend both defy logic. I almost made Natasha _cry_ , she was so scared the first night we met, and I’m pretty sure nobody who ever heard the name Natasha Romanov isn’t terrified of her.” 

Tony pulled a dramatic face, eyes wide. “Oh my God, did you ever hear the whole story? She was under cover for a long time as an employee for me and I never suspected anything. I’m terrified of that woman, I think she can kill people without moving,” he said, and Bruce laughed.

“Seriously. I mean, I know nothing can hurt me and I was still absolutely intimidated when we met.” He shot Tony a look. “And my point still stands, if the scariest assassin in the world is afraid of me, why aren’t you? And especially, why isn’t your girlfriend?”

Tony hummed. “Well first off, it isn’t ‘girlfriend’, hasn’t been for a while. And second,” he pointed at Bruce as he walked around to the sofa. “I wasn’t afraid of you before I saw what became of you because you have the control of Gandhi. And after I saw your friend come out to play, he kind of saved my life, and I like that trait in a person-“

“He isn’t a person,” Bruce snapped, cringing at his tone. He swallowed and sighed, looking down at the floor. “He’s… a monster. All the Other Guy is good for is destruction and collateral damage. He doesn’t care who he kills-“

“Clearly you have never seen the footage of our alien battle, Bruce,” Tony argued. “The Other Guy protected his teammates-“

“After he tried to kill all of you on the helicarrier,” Bruce reminded him and Tony shrugged.

“He was afraid. I’d be terrified too in that situation. He can’t help that when he trips and falls he breaks other people and things, not himself,” Tony said simply. “If I woke up in the bowels of a helicarrier the way the Other Guy did when he ‘tried to kill us all’, I would be disoriented and swing at whatever came at me too.”

Bruce sighed, sitting on the couch across from Tony. “Only you don’t kill people when you black out and start swinging,” he said, shuddering.

Tony smiled sadly. “The Other Guy can’t help how big he gets.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow in amusement. “‘Can’t help how big he gets’? That’s your take on that one?”

“Bruce,” Tony started. “I’ve _spoken_ to Hulk. He is basically like a big puppy: he doesn’t mean to break shit, he just isn’t aware of his own strength. And when he goes all ‘blind rage’, it’s because he’s like a caged animal. He’s terrified and just trying to survive. When he focuses, when he lets part of Banner come through, he saves people’s lives.”

Bruce just shook his head. “He kills people, Stark. Moments of clarity aside, he’s exactly like a caged animal- completely volatile and destructive. Only he can’t be stopped, a lion can,” he stressed.

Tony shrugged, sipping his drink. “Agree to disagree, my friend. All we can do. Because your thoughts aside, previous issues I couldn’t possibly know about-“

Bruce sighed. “Do you think I’ll believe you’ve never read my files-“

Tony continued. “I know what I’ve seen myself, and the only reason I’m here to have seen the footage is because of the Hulk, Bruce.” He looked him in the eyes and shook his head. “Everything aside, from my point of view, the Other Guy saved me from being mopped out of the inside of a Iron Man shaped soup can and I just can’t see him as nothing but ‘destructive’. I accept that I’ve never lived your life or been through what he’s put you through, but from my side of things, he’s just as much of a hero as any of us.”

Bruce just sighed, and leaned back, rubbing a hand over his face. He cast around for anything to say before settling on something Tony had said a few minutes back. He frowned. “Oh hey, ‘not girlfriend’?” he asked and Tony made a face.

“Yeah, not really,” he said and Bruce raised an eyebrow, looking at the elevator. Tony chuckled. “I know, what’s she still doing around? Everybody asked that one when we split up.”

Bruce gave him a sheepish look. “Not for nothing, but you don’t really strike people as the kind to have anything but a messy and public breakup. I’ve been out of touch for a while, so maybe it was, but she’s still around,” he hinted and Tony laughed softly.

“It wasn’t really. Pep’s great even when she’s dumping me,” he joked, then waved a hand. “Actually wasn’t like that. Pretty much it wasn’t so bad-“

They were interrupted as the elevator opened and Pepper walked out, carrying bags of takeout. “Sorry guys, that was a nightmare,” she said, smiling as she kicked off her shoes and stepped down to the level of the sofa. “Dr. Banner! Good to see Tony hasn’t broken you while I was gone,” she joked and Bruce couldn’t help but laugh.

“Takes a lot more than his ego to break me, Ms. Potts,” he said and she returned his laugh.

Tony gave a mockingly offended huff. “Pepper, I don’t always break things-“

“Give me a week of your life you didn’t cause a fire or blow something up or smash something?” she challenged and Tony frowned, thinking.

His eyes lit up and he sat up straighter. “Hawaii! We spent two weeks in Hawaii, remember? I didn’t break anything-“

She glared. “ _I_ was in Hawaii. You used the suit to fly back to Malibu every night after I fell asleep so you could work on your cars,” she said and Tony hummed.

“Yeah, I got nothing,” he said and Pepper smiled playfully. “Pepper, dear, I was just explaining the ‘not my girlfriend’ thing to Bruce. Shockingly, he was only surprised you didn’t kill me or something,” he said flatly and Pepper laughed.

“Well, I might have if we’d stayed together,” she offered, kneeling down to unpack the takeout packages from the bags she sat on the coffee table. “It’s pretty simple, I love Tony with all my heart, but… just not that way,” she said, shrugging innocently. “It was just too weird.”

Tony chuckled. “Pretty sure I’m not ‘relationship’ material,” he explained. “Plus, add in that Pepper is the CEO of my company and the only person I have in my life anymore, and it just got… really strange.”

Pepper smirked. “Plus I travel with Happy a lot-“

“Oh God, not this again,” Tony groaned, falling over to hide his face in the couch cushions. “Bruce, she decided the new ‘best friend’ role in my life means it’s okay to talk about her dates. It’s horrible. Seriously, you don’t understand how grateful I am _you_ are the one who came back,” he said, and Bruce actually cracked a genuine smile.

“Well, I can promise I won’t tell you about any dates?” he offered and Tony chuckled.

“God I hope not.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce was left blessedly alone for the first week he was at Stark Tower. It wasn’t until his fourth day going out after that first week of settling in that Tony, leaving Pepper’s office, caught up with him on the way back to the elevator. “Hey Bruce, where do you keep going to? I could lend you a car so you can stop walking so much,” he offered and Bruce shot him a look.

“Thanks, but I like walking,” he said.

Tony pressed the button for his floor and Bruce rolled his eyes. “But where’ve you been going so much? Thought you had pressing work?” he questioned and Bruce chuckled at his persistence, fidgeting some under Tony’s scrutiny.

“Job hunting,” he said and Tony gave him a look like he’d said ‘murdering puppies’ instead.

“Oh my God, _Why_?” Tony asked dramatically.

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “Not sure if you noticed, but even if you’re housing and feeding me, I do have other things that require money. Not much, but I should buy some clothes, probably need to get new glasses since I’m going to be doing precision work and the ones I have are scratched, stuff like that.”

Tony just frowned. “Wait, Pepper didn’t give you a credit card?” he asked, and Bruce gave him in incredulous look.

“Tony, you can’t be serious. She probably knew better than to try and get me to take it-“

Tony sighed dramatically, almost as if explaining something to a child for the thousandth time. “Billionaire,” he stressed. “Seriously, if it makes you feel better, consider it funding scientific research, okay?”

Bruce chuckled uneasily. “I don’t know, Tony-“

Tony grabbed his shoulders and turned them to face each other. “Dr. Banner, you are a _genius_ who is working and living in my building. The least I can do is fund the research of a certified science geek, okay? Especially one who isn’t evil,” he said before releasing Bruce to turn back to face the doors. “Besides,” he added with a smirk. “You laugh at my jokes without being paid for it.”

Bruce just ducked his head to hide his grin.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When Bruce found his closet full of clothes a few days later, he couldn’t help but be amused. He walked out to the elevator and climbed on. “JARVIS, can I go up to see Tony?” he asked.

“Actually, Dr. Banner, Mr. Stark is in his personal laboratories at the top of the building, to which he has not authorized me to grant you access,” JARVIS supplied and Bruce sighed.

“Then can you get him on the intercom for me and let him know I want to speak with him? I would call, but I don’t have a phone,” he explained.

“Right away, sir. Would you like to go to Mr. Stark’s apartment to wait for him there, sir?” 

Bruce chuckled. “May as well,” he said, running a hand over his face at the still-ridiculous notion of speaking to an AI after so many years living in huts in small villages. 

He waited in Tony’s living room for only about five minutes before the elevator doors opened and Tony came walking out wearing a somewhat singed tee-shirt. “Bruce! Why didn’t you just come up to the lab to talk?” he asked as he walked over.

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “JARVIS isn’t authorized to let me up to your lab.”

Tony frowned. “JARVIS, why isn’t Dr. Banner authorized to come hang out and play with my toys?” he asked as he walked over to the bar to pour himself a drink. 

“Mr. Stark, you haven’t authorized me-“

“Then I authorize it now,” Tony said simply, holding up the bottle towards Bruce, who shook his head.

“No thanks,” he said as he walked closer. “So, _your_ lab? You don’t work downstairs?”

Tony scoffed. “Are you kidding me? C’mon, I have multiple _floors_ up there. Remember that time I mentioned Candy Land?” he asked, winking as he walked over, sipping his drink. “C’mon up, I have a particle accelerator that will _blow your mind_ ,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Bruce ducked his head, hiding the amused look as he fidgeted with his sleeves. “Well, I don’t want to disturb you. I was actually just coming to say thank you for the clothes-“

“Mr. Stark, I’ve already informed Ms. Potts that Dr. Banner doesn’t have a mobile phone, so one will be in his apartment when he returns,” JARVIS interrupted before Bruce could continue.

Tony hummed. “Explains why you didn’t call me,” he said, then slung his arm around Bruce’s shoulders, leading him towards the elevator. “Come on up and be jealous. You think your lab is nice, wait until you see my electron microscope, you will lose your shit, man,” he said as he guided him, gesturing with his free hand.

When Bruce finally allowed Tony to drag him up to his labs, Bruce couldn’t help but stare. He thought his lab was nice, but the top ten floors of Stark Tower were packed with every piece of equipment he could imagine and some he couldn’t. As he walked past the control panel for Tony’s aforementioned particle accelerator, he could only chuckle weakly. “Damn.”

Tony beamed. “I know right?!”

Bruce grinned, plucking his glasses out of his shirt pocket and put them on, leaning over to read the limits posted next to the particle accelerator. “You’re an engineer, what on earth do you need this for anyways?” he asked and Tony shrugged.

“If found myself in need of a particle accelerator a while back,” he said, tapping his chest where Bruce could see the faint glow of the Arc Reactor through the fabric of his shirt. “Figured why not build a real one here in case I need to synthesize another element.” He smirked. “Although, for the time being, I seem to have my very own in-house nuclear physicist to help me out if I need one,” he said and Bruce chuckled uneasily.

“You overestimate my capabilities,” he said, taking his glasses off before allowing Tony to guide him further on the tour. “I haven’t worked in a physics lab in a long time.”

Tony shrugged. “You’re still considered a leading expert in nuclear research. You wouldn’t believe how much of your work with the military went into Stark tech when we were still dealing weapons.” He nodded to him. “Even years out of the game, the game hasn’t caught up with you.”

Bruce hummed. “Great, even more people I’ve killed,” he muttered under his breath as he turned and wandered away. 

Tony cringed when he heard the doctor’s statement. He could relate with that sentiment. “Hey, tell you what!” He caught up with Bruce and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s head downstairs, order a pizza, and I can tell you all about the work in clean energy. I promise, the details are extremely fascinating,” he said, then smiled at him. “Besides, you might actually understand what I’m saying. Nobody else ever has.”

Bruce chuckled. “Alright, I’ll take you up on that. It would be nice to catch up with where you’ve advanced to since I’ve been off-radar. I’ve read some things since I got here, but it would be nice to get a better understanding of scientific advances in the past few months.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce had been working for three weeks in his lab before Tony interrupted him while he was working. JARVIS interrupted him, rather, to ask him, “Dr. Banner, Mr. Stark is outside of the lab. Shall I allow him inside?”

Bruce pushed his safety goggles up on his head and looked at the frosted glass doors. “Sure, let him in.”

Tony entered the lab with a smile. “Hey Big Guy, what’s cookin’?” he asked, eyes on the beakers in front of Bruce.

Bruce rolled his eyes at the nickname Tony had taken to using more often in the month he had been at Stark Towers. “I’m just testing a few combinations stability, it’s nothing terribly important. What can I help you with?” he asked and Tony shrugged, hands in his pockets.

“I was going to see if you were coming up tonight. It’s later than you usually come up,” he said and Bruce glanced down, shoving his lab coat up to check his watch. Tony and Bruce had fallen into a habit for the last few weeks of having dinner in Tony’s apartment most every night, spending time bouncing ideas and theories off of each other. Bruce could tell Tony was more than ecstatic to have someone who could really grasp the concepts of his ideas to talk to. Some nights Pepper joined them, some nights Steve even came up to join them, but most of the time, it was just the two of them, some food, some shop talk, and maybe some trash TV if they needed to let their brains rest for a little while.

Bruce took the goggles off his head and put them on the table. “Um, I may be late,” he said sheepishly, picking up the pen beside his notepad to make some notes. “I’m getting somewhere finally, not sure I can stop now without losing this momentum, you know?”

Tony nodded and chuckled. “Oh yeah, I know that feeling. Pepper used to yell at me when she would come in for work in the morning and find me still up working on something.” He walked around Bruce and looked at the labels of the test tubes next to Bruce’s beaker setup. “What is all this?” he asked, and Bruce glanced up over the rim of his glasses from taking a note.

“Sorry, my handwriting is pretty bad I guess,” he said but Tony shook his head.

“Not the problem, Brucey,” he said, shooting him an amused look. “You forget, I build things. I make things with my hands. I only know enough about chemistry to know what makes certain alloys and compounds. I’m sure I could _learn_ what these words and symbols mean quite easily, but I’ve never had a reason to do the required reading,” he said, and Bruce couldn’t help a small smirk at the idea of outsmarting the ‘great’ Tony Stark. Tony rolled his eyes. “I saw that.”

Bruce laughed a genuine laugh. “Okay let me gloat!” He took a tube from the rack Tony was holding without bothering to make him set it down. “Not many people can say they know something a science prodigy knows.”

Tony set the rack down and turned to face Bruce, a curious glimmer in his eyes. “It’s funny you say that,” he said, pulling up the lab stool behind him to sit on it, watching as Bruce catalogued results from the tubes-Tony didn’t know what they were still- with a patient gaze.

Bruce sighed and shot Tony a playfully annoyed look. “Alright, I’ll bite, why is it funny I say that?”

Tony grabbed the holoscreen and pulled it around. “You see, you can’t be shocked to know I have looked at everybody’s files and from your college data combined with the psychological observations I’ve had JARVIS catalogue, you, my friend, should’ve been a science prodigy just like me.” He propped his chin in his hand pointedly. “Care to explain why that isn’t information everybody knows?”

Bruce got quiet. Tony was surprised when Bruce put down his test tube and pen and pulled off his gloves, fidgeting with his glasses before looking up. “If you have seen files and ran non-consensual psych evaluations on me, you know already,” he said, voice somewhat strained. 

Tony frowned some at Bruce’s reaction. He started to wring his hands and shuffle from foot to foot before turning to walk away, carrying his clipboard and note pad over to place on the other table. “Actually, I feel ashamed to admit this, but your files… they were sealed to me.” He sat up and followed Bruce with his eyes as he fussed with things, clearly avoiding Tony’s gaze. “I couldn’t hack into anything pre-college and pre-army.” He tilted his head. “Going by the information JARVIS has collected in regards to your logic, innovation, and decision making skills, computations estimates that your IQ is between _170 and 185_.” Tony shook his head with an incredulous yet captivated expression. “Bruce, I’m a certified genius, I was a child prodigy, there are arguments I am smarter than my dad was even, and yet my IQ was tested to be about 160.”

Bruce forced a weak laugh. “Then why don’t you have a PhD, huh? Slacking, Stark,” he tried, but Tony just frowned at his attempts at humor.

Tony stood up and walked over to Bruce, who was more staring at a clipboard than doing anything. He leaned against the table and looked at Bruce’s face, frowning at the look he couldn’t decipher that was painted on his friend’s face. “If I’m a genius, you’re a super genius… why is it I graduated from MIT at seventeen and yet you, apparently, didn’t even go to college until you showed up on army payroll?”

Bruce shook his head. “Don’t, Tony,” he said softly and Tony’s eyes widened.

“You mean to tell me you went through _normal_ school?! At your intellectual level? God, wasn’t it _agonizing_ -“

“There is a reason my records are sealed so tight you can’t even hack into them, Tony,” Bruce snapped, turning an angry expression on Tony. He took a deep breath and backed away. “Sorry, I’m sorry, that was dramatic of me-“

“Bruce… are you okay?” Tony asked, and Bruce looked up, nodding.

“Yes, I’m fine, see? No green,” he said, looking slightly forlorn as he added that note for Tony’s benefit.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Bruce, I trust you better than that-“

“Well, you shouldn’t,” Bruce said firmly. He walked past Tony, shucking his lab coat. “Fuck it, let’s go eat, okay? Just… I need to get out of the lab. Pretty sure I have things that will explode if I get too out of control and someone else decides to pay a visit.”

Tony shook his head. “You’re in control,” he said confidently. “JARVIS monitors you.”

Bruce groaned. “Of course he does, why am I not shocked?” he sighed and Tony had the decency to look apologetic. “Do you want me to come upstairs or not?” Bruce asked, giving Tony a tired look, the lines on his face intensified by his mood. “I won’t blame you if you don’t want to really be around me right now-“

“Bullshit,” Tony said, walking over to Bruce, who raised an eyebrow. “Bruce, don’t make me start poking you with sticks again,” he said with a deathly serious expression. 

It was enough to startle a laugh out of Bruce, who was _not_ expecting that. “You have a death wish, Stark,” he said, shaking his head, unable to stop smiling. “Alright, but if I lose control and you die, it’s on your head,” he said and Tony cut him a smile.

“Deal!” He clapped and gestured to the door with a flourish. “Now, the toughest question of the night: Chinese or Indian? I’m feeling noodles, but I know how you like curry,” he started, and Bruce couldn’t help the smile on his face as he followed his friend out of the lab, more amused and confused than ever about Tony Stark.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When Bruce came back from going to get the takeout from downstairs, he came in to see Tony had changed clothes while he was gone. “Do you own anything besides thousand dollar suits and vintage band tee-shirts?” he asked as he walked over, setting the takeout on the coffee table. “Why do we never sit in your kitchen and eat? Surely you have a table. Or at least a dining room,” he said as he settled on his knees.

Tony scoffed. “Why would I own anything else? I like tee-shirts and I listen to great music.” Bruce looked over, only to bite his lip when he saw Tony pouring himself another finger of scotch. 

“I really wish you wouldn’t-“ Bruce stopped, biting his lip and fidgeting when he realized he spoke out loud. “Never mind,” he mumbled, standing up again. “I’ll be back,” Bruce said, walking towards the hallway.

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Wish I wouldn’t what?” he asked and Bruce stopped, tugging at the hem of his shirt as he glanced back at Tony. He looked down and hunched his shoulders somewhat- a nervous tick Tony had long catalogued amongst countless others.

Bruce shrugged. “You drink too much,” he said honestly. He looked up and saw Tony looking at him in confusion. “You’re never _not_ drinking, Tony. Even if you hardly ever seem the slightest bit inebriated, that’s just… ridiculous,” he said honestly. “To be a healthy person, one who takes all of the supplements, one who takes care to eat right and exercise, you drink so much all of the time.” He shook his head. “It’s just not good.” He turned and continued on his way out, going through to the kitchen to grab two bottles of water out of the refrigerator. 

When he came out, he walked over to sit beside Tony, who was already sitting with his legs crossed, unpacking the food onto the table. Bruce sat down as well, only to glance up and notice there wasn’t a glass anywhere near them. Tony looked up and Bruce raised an eyebrow only to have Tony sniff affectedly. “I wanted water,” he said simply, snagging one of the bottles without another word. 

Bruce smiled, biting his lip as he looked down. “Thank you,” he said softly, knowing better than to expect a reply.

After they finished eating, while Bruce was explaining that he learned medicine from volunteering as part of an aid camp in Somalia after he ran the first time, Tony couldn’t stop thinking about earlier in the lab. He didn’t even realize he was completely ignoring Bruce until Bruce stopped talking and waved a hand in front of his face. “Tony? Tony are you even listening?”

Tony snapped out of it and smiled apologetically. “Sorry, Big Guy, I got distracted.” Bruce tilted his head enquiringly and Tony waved a hand. “Just… thinking about today.”

Bruce hummed. “You’re not giving up, are you-“

Tony snapped and whined, pouting at Bruce. “You’re _smarter than me_!” he stressed. “Why did you go to normal school if you were a super genius? It bothers me that I don’t know. I’m not used to not knowing! I know how to hack into almost _everything_ why can’t I work out your information?!” Bruce leveled him with a half-amused, half-annoyed look. Tony rolled his eyes. “Oh stop that, I know where Steve went to church and that’s before information was even electronic, but the deepest and strongest security is on your files. _why_?! I know you don’t want me to know, and you don’t want to talk about it, I’m not ASKING you, I’m just complaining to you because you’re here and I’m annoyed that I can’t hack something-“

Bruce let out a chuckle. “You are the most arrogant bastard I’ve ever met,” he said in amusement. He dropped his head back against the couch. “Tony, there is a reason things are buried. You don’t need to know. Trust me, it’s nothing cool. I wasn’t building atomic weapons at six years old if that’s what you’re expecting to find,” he said and Tony just harrumphed.

“You’re just… smarter than me and I want to compare. Is that so strange?!”

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “Tony, you were a child prodigy. I wasn’t. I did exactly what you said to me, I went through school at a normal pace, didn’t go to college until the army recruited me.” He nudged him. “Besides, I don’t buy your explanation for why you stopped without a PhD but I’m not prying.”

Tony chuckled. “I’ll tell you why if you’ll tell me why?”

Bruce shook his head. “No,” he said, standing up to gather up their trash. “I told you, Tony. No.”

“Oh, come on!” Tony hopped up to follow him around as he cleared up. “Leave that, somebody will get it-“

“Not everybody uses maids, Tony,” Bruce said, ignoring Tony following him around as he went to dispose of their containers and put their bottles in the recycling bin.

“Is it because of your parents?” Tony guessed and Bruce bristled, trying to ignore him as he headed back out to the living room. “Bruce, I won’t judge you, my parents died when I was young, too. I know you lost yours early, is that why you were in normal school? Was it what your mom wanted or something-“

Bruce turned on Tony, glaring. “Tony, I said STOP!” he shouted, rolling his eyes when Tony didn’t even flinch at him shouting when most people flinched when he twitched. “Look, think about who I am, Tony. Thank about what I can do if you _anger_ me the way you’re trying. Stop trying to set me off, I know that’s what you’re doing-“

Tony waved a hand. “No, I’m not, I’m actually curious. Besides, I gave up on setting you off, you have a lid on it,” he argued. “I just want to let you know that… I understand what it’s like to lose your parents-“

Bruce scoffed, laughing darkly. “Fuck you, you have no fucking idea what my life has been-“

Tony gave him a placating look that just pissed him off worse. Bruce turned to head towards the elevator and Tony rushed after him. “Trust me, being the son of a genius and losing parents early is something I can actually understand, Bruce. I’m just letting you know, it’s not like I’m going to judge you-“

Bruce let out a humorless laugh. “Oh yeah, you know what it’s like being the son of a genius, sure, but at least your father LOVED YOU!” he shouted as he spun around, startling Tony when he saw actual tears in Bruce’s eyes. “You have no idea, Tony. No _fucking_ clue,” he said with a pained expression. “You want to know?! You really want to know? Yeah, my father was a genius, you know of him, right? Revolutionary atomic physicist, admired by all?” He shook his head. “My father was a bastard. The records aren’t sealed for my protection, they’re sealed because the people he worked for don’t want it known that he was an alcoholic that beat the hell out of his son all of the time for being _smart_ and killed my mom for trying to protect me.” Bruce shook his head, one tear slipping free from his eyelashes. He looked away and laughed almost hysterically. “The reason I went to school normally, Tony, is because I hated being smart. I _hated_ being intelligent because it got my mom killed.” He sniffled slightly. “I was a ‘freak’, he said. I was already smarter than the average adult at four years old and he decided to beat the freakishness out of me in a drunken rage. That bastard murdered my mother for trying to stop him one night. It was an ‘accident’,” he said, eyes somewhat wild. “He ‘didn’t mean it’ he said. He told them that she was hysteric and he grabbed her to stop her and she fell and hit her head when in reality, he _beat her to death_ ,” he spat. 

Tony watched him with heartbroken eyes, face slack. “Bruce,” he said softly and Bruce shook his head, forcibly scrubbing his eyes free of tears.

“I’ve always been a freak, Tony. The Other Guy made it public knowledge, but it isn’t like I wasn’t already there. After my father’s beatings, I got my ass kicked at school for still being smarter than everybody else. I went through _so much_ and I was doing my best to be average!” He laughed a broken laugh. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to have my brain and try and be _normal_?” He walked over to Tony, who watched him with so much pain for his friend etched into every line of his face and an obvious apology in his eyes. “You wanna know how the army heard about me?” he asked, tilting his head.

Tony shook his head, lips pursed. “Bruce, it’s okay-“

“No, you wanted to know!” Bruce spat, sniffling as more tears built in his eyes. “Let’s just say it wasn’t only after the Hulk that I ‘got low’, as I think I phrased it before,” he said and Tony’s eyes widened and his skin went ashen. “I couldn’t take it anymore. The bullies, the pressure to try and be normal… none of it,” Bruce admitted, then bit back a grim frown. “So, I built a bomb. I did it on my own, mixed the chemicals, built the timing devices, all by myself. I put it in the basement of my high school, and I set it off with me sitting next to it and all of the kids that treated me like crap up above it,” he said viciously. “Only it didn’t work. Something went wrong in the wiring and it didn’t blow up.”

Tony just stared, tears in his own eyes at the thought of someone so brilliant wanting to _die_ so young. “Oh Bruce.”

Bruce just shrugged, taking a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “I got expelled and arrested, but the army wanted me. They were impressed at my abilities, so they recruited me and put me in college. In the end, I got a PhD in nuclear physics because no matter how much I hated my old man, I inherited the same fucking knack for science and the army wanted me to pick up where my father left off,” he said softly, the fight leaving him somewhat. He looked up and bit his lip. “Happy now? No more mystery-“

“Bruce, I didn’t know,” Tony said softly, a look that could only be genuine regret stitched into his eyes. “I had no idea. I just-“ He clenched his jaw and swallowed.

Bruce uncharacteristically looked Tony dead in the eyes, in spite of his nervous shuffling. “You think we have so much in common, but your dad put you in boarding school instead of beat you, you graduated MIT at seventeen instead of being attacked daily for being a freak, and you lost your parents in a plane crash not because your father murdered your mother, Tony. You- you know _nothing_ ,” he said harshly, but Tony didn’t even flinch.

Tony just shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry,” he said genuinely.

“Sorry for what? For prying and- and reminding me of _everything_ -“ Bruce swayed slightly, somewhat overcome with his emotions. 

Tony quickly closed the gap between them, catching Bruce. “Whoa there, Big Guy,” he said, letting him balance before leaning in- not pulling away- to curl his arms around Bruce. “It’s okay,” he said as he hugged his friend, ignoring his tense, shaky frame.

“W-what are you doing?” Bruce whispered and Tony chuckled sadly.

“It’s called ‘hugging’. It’s what you do when someone needs… well, a hug,” he said, sliding a hand up Bruce’s back, sliding it to clutch the back of his head when Bruce let go and sagged, shaking like a leaf as he slowly wrapped his arms around Tony as well, letting Tony basically hold him up.

“Tony, I’m sorry,” he choked out. “I’m- I’m sorry for getting upset. You should be running, I’m so dangerous, Tony. Why are you touching me?” he asked and Tony frowned, turning his head some to glance at the side of Bruce’s face from where he was on Tony’s shoulder.

“You have a hold of yourself, Dr. Banner. I trust you. Why shouldn’t I _hug_ a friend who needs me?” he asked and Bruce snorted, pulling away so that there was a gap between them. He tried to pull away fully but Tony kept hold of his shoulders.

“C’mon, Tony,” Bruce said weakly, a sad little smile on his face. “I’m a ‘thing’. Nobody would want to get close enough to be snapped like a toothpick if I went green-“

“But you _wont_ ,” Tony stressed. 

Bruce shook his head. “You can’t know that.” The doctor shrugged weakly. “There’s a reason the closest anybody has willingly got in the last several years was a handshake. And even that is generally only people who have no idea who I am.”

Tony’s heart sank with realization. “I swear I want to kill whoever treats you like a freak most of the time, Bruce,” he said before wordlessly reaching down to catch Bruce’s hands, curling their fingers together. “Bruce Banner, you are not a freak.” He shook his head. “You are… brilliant. And selfless. And you are so fucking _good_. You’re humble and kind and anybody who thinks a little temper problem is enough to negate the man you are is an idiot.”

Bruce chuckled awkwardly. “I like that, ‘little temper problem’, Master of Understatemen- MMPH!” Bruce was silenced by Tony’s lips on his. Bruce wasn’t really sure how to react at first, but the way Tony’s lips caressed him made resistance difficult, so he sank into the kiss. When Tony’s hands moved to Bruce’s waist, Bruce turned his head, breaking the kiss. “What are you doing?”

Tony chuckled. “Kissing you,” he said and Bruce lifted his eyes to glare, though his burning cheeks made it less menacing that he could hope. 

“Why?” Bruce asked bashfully, trying to turn away.

Tony reached up and cupped his cheek, turning Bruce’s face back. “Because you’re a better man than I’ll ever be and I don’t _think_ things like that. Ever, Bruce,” he whispered closing the gap between them to kiss him once more.

Bruce turned away again. “Tony, remember the ‘giant green rage monster’ thing, this is a terrible idea-“

“Rage is _so_ far from what I want to make you feel, Big Guy,” Tony joked, kissing along his jaw. Bruce’s eyelids fluttered and he shook his head.

“Tony, no, I can’t- You shouldn’t-“

Tony sighed and stepped away a few inches. “Bruce,” he said, looking into his eyes searchingly. “If you _want_ to pretend this never happened, you can tell me… but if you’re only stopping because you think you _have_ to, I’m going to be so pissed,” he said and Bruce fidgeted tugging at his shirt tail. “Bruce?”

Bruce sucked his lip into his mouth. “Tony, I can’t know it’s safe… if I’m distracted enough, I’m not sure I can keep him in.”

Tony shrugged. “I’m not afraid of him, I’m more afraid of you thinking you’re worthless.”

Bruce winced. “If this- THIS is your way of saying ‘hey, you’re nice to have around’, I really appreciate the sentiment, but it’s really stupid to risk-“

Tony moaned softly and pulled Bruce close, arms going around his waist. “Put it this way, Banner.” He pulled him close enough to whisper in his ear, one hand sliding up to sink into his graying curls. “Smart is sexy and as a genius, it’s hard to meet someone else I can consider ‘smart’.”

Bruce shivered and Tony smiled, kissing his earlobe before sliding his lips down Bruce’s jaw. “Is- is that-“

“I don’t just give everybody multi-million dollar labs, Bruce,” Tony said, sucking lightly at a spot blow Bruce’s ear that had him trembling in Tony’s arms.

Bruce gasped and let his head fall back as Tony’s lips slid along his throat. “This is a terrible idea,” he groaned as he curled his hands around Tony’s shoulders.

Tony pulled back and kissed him hard. “Oh yeah,” he said, pulling Bruce flush, bodies pressed together from thigh to chest. “Terrible, terrible idea.”

Bruce moaned against his lips, gasping when Tony squeezed his ass, pulling their hips together. “We should definitely _not_ find a bed-“

“Oh God no, horrible idea,” Tony said, then pulled back, looking into Bruce’s eyes. “But, you know, if we were to go with the horrible idea, my bedroom’s this way,” he said, tugging Bruce as he backed towards the hall.

Bruce groaned and kissed Tony, pushing him so that they stumbled into the wall, not parting at all as they stumbled down the hallway, grabbing at each other’s clothes frantically the entire way.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce was trying to be as quiet as he could as he found his clothes strew around Tony’s bedroom and tugging them on when suddenly the windows de-tinted and there was a beep. “Good morning, Mr. Stark. It is eight twenty-five in the morning-“

Bruce cringed and froze in place when he heard Tony mutter, “Mute.” He buttoned his pants and tugged his shirt on, starting on the bottom buttons before Tony rolled over and groaned as he rubbed his face and stretched. He looked up, only to turn and look at Bruce, who flushed and continued buttoning his shirt. “Got somewhere to be?” he asked, yawning as he sat up.

Bruce cringed, finishing on the top buttons. “Just need to get started in the lab. Should have some interesting results today if I’m right about my theories.”

Tony eyed him in amusement as he grabbed his shoes and hopped around pulling them on. “You know, usually I’m the one that runs off the morning after, this is definitely a turn of events,” he said and Bruce signed, giving Tony an apologetic look.

“Tony… last night was-“ He paused, trying to find words. “Well, not the best idea, I’d say,” he said and Tony rolled his eyes.

“Oh come on, I gave you the opportunity to walk away, why pretend it was a mistake after the fact-“

Bruce chuckled weakly. “I don’t just mean sex, Tony,” he said, looking up with a sad look that Tony _hated_. “God, that was the least of it,” he admitted. He sighed and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed, looking down at the floor instead of Tony. “Look, not only did I say _way_ too much- nobody was meant to know anything I told you- but I also got emotional.” He looked up and met Tony’s eyes. He shook his head as he said, “I’m not supposed to get emotional. It’s dangerous. That entire situation was just… too far. I could’ve lost it and killed you and half the people in this building. I _cried_ for God’s sake! I can’t do that, Tony. I can’t let myself get so overwhelmed like that. Hell, the only reason I figured actually having sex wouldn’t be so dangerous is because I was able to stay in control while I was crying and shouting and _angry_ like that.”

Tony shifted over and laid a hand on Bruce’s back. “Well, to be honest, I never meant for that to happen.” He gave him a genuinely apologetic smile. “I had no idea how bad it was, or I wouldn’t have pried.” His smile turned filthy, however, as he stood up on his knees and wrapped his arms around Bruce’s shoulders, leaning into kiss his throat. “Now, about the sex-“

Bruce pulled away some with a groan. “No, Tony, just because I said the sex wasn’t the problem doesn’t mean it was okay-“

“It wasn’t okay, it was fantastic,” Tony said, following him to kiss his throat every time he wiggled away. 

“Tony,” Bruce complained. “Tony, I could lose control and kill you.”

Tony scoffed. “Worth the risk, you were _incredible_.”

Bruce rolled his eyes, pulling further away. “Tony, I don’t _do_ this, okay?” He pushed him away and stood up. Tony pouted up at him and Bruce laughed weakly. “Tony, I’ve never _done_ this. I don’t want things to get weird,” he admitted, putting his hands in his pockets awkwardly. 

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Done what? Is it the ‘man’ thing?” he asked curiously and Bruce made a face.

“No, I did go to college, if you don’t remember,” he said and Tony smirked at him. Bruce blushed slightly under his friend’s lascivious gaze. “I don’t… sleep around like this,” he said, then frowned. “Well, okay that isn’t the words I’m looking for, I slept with one person so that isn’t ‘sleeping around’, but just-“ He sighed in frustration. “I’m not _you_. I don’t just… sleep with whoever I want to,” he stressed. “I don’t do one-night-stands. And I don’t just mean since my accident, I mean _ever_. Before last night, I had slept with a total of four people in my entire _life_ and I don’t know how to do sex with a friend so it’s just-“ He flushed, ducking his eyes. “It’s better not to let last night happen again,” he said, glancing up at Tony to see how he reacted.

Tony just looked confused. “Wait… seriously?!” he asked and Bruce nodded. “So you’re saying even when you were a normal guy, one in college even, you never just… slept with a friend for the sake of orgasms?”

Bruce made a face. “Well, I didn’t really do ‘friends’, but no. I didn’t.” He smiled sadly. “I had a few short-term relationships, one that mattered, and then after the accident, I’ve basically lived my life running around and trying to _not_ catch anybody’s attention.”

Tony chuckled. “Oh trust me, Brucey, you more than have my attention already.”

“That isn’t what I meant,” Bruce argued and Tony narrowed his eyes at him. Tony stood up and walked towards Bruce, who tried his best not to look at Tony’s naked boy as he approached him. “Tony-“

“Okay, that’s test one passed, you clearly find me terribly attractive,” Tony said and Bruce ducked his head. “Look, Bruce if you don’t want to, fine. We can go back to _not_ doing this,” he said, stepping right into Bruce’s space. “But you should be well aware, I _really_ enjoyed last night and would really, really love to repeat that sometime.”

Bruce sighed. “I could lose control-“

“You didn’t last night, and you were on emotional edge even before the sex,” Tony argued. He reached up and pulled Bruce into a kiss, fingers sinking into the soft curls at the base of Bruce’s neck. 

Bruce bit his lip when the kiss broke, eyes shut as he leaned his forehead against Tony’s. “It isn’t that easy-“

“Why can’t it be?” Tony asked, pulling him into another kiss. “Look, I’m not asking for anything specific, I’m just saying I am very attracted to you and while I don’t generally have sexual relationships with my other friends- well, okay I did, but that’s not the point-“ Tony waved a hand. “The point is, the occasional sexual encounter won’t suddenly make it weird in the tower,” he said and Bruce laughed sadly.

“Tony, I’m a ticking time bomb and you’re insane,” he said, smiling at his affronted expression. “It’s already weird in the tower.”

Tony’s frown morphed into a grin. “Huh, smart, sexy, AND funny, I like it!” he said, tugging Bruce into another kiss. “Seriously though,” he said between kisses. “But really, sex. Totally not going to make it any weirder than it already is.”

Bruce moaned softly as Tony’s hands slid down his chest to start undoing buttons. “I’m-I’m slowly forgetting why sex is a bad idea,” he admitted and Tony laughed against his lips as he parted to breathe.

“Then my plan is working,” he confided before shoving Bruce’s shirt open with a groan. “Back to bed?”

“Try and stop me,” Bruce gasped out as he followed Tony back towards the bed, stumbling as they went.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce kept expecting the other shoe to drop for the next several days. However, eventually enough time passed that any fear of things getting awkward between him and Tony was a thought of the past. They continued to sleep together, but for the most part, everything was the same as before they had sex. They still worked most of their days, separate or together on projects, and then have dinner together to touch base on their experiments. The only real difference was how often they ended up in each other’s beds at the end of the night.

In his worry that things would become awkward with Tony and himself, it somehow managed to completely slip his mind to be worried about anybody _else_ finding out until the morning someone did.

Bruce was standing in Tony’s kitchen making breakfast in a pair of Tony’s pajama pants without a shirt- something he would’ve never done before he grew comfortable in Tony’s home- while Tony showered when he heard the elevator ding open. His eyes widened and he all but dropped the tea he was making. “JARVIS, who is that?” he asked, having grown used to speaking to empty air and getting a response.

“Mrs. Potts has arrived with Mr. Barton and Ms. Romanov, Dr. Banner. Mr. Stark gave them permission to come in and get comfortable from his place in the bathroom.”

Bruce cursed. “Damn it, Tony!” He cast around for anything to put on, but the kitchen didn’t exactly have any shirts in it. He was just contemplating a dash for the bedroom when the click of heels alerted him to someone coming to the kitchen door.

“Tony will want coffee for this talk, I’m sure- Oh!” Bruce blushed, clearing his throat as he avoided Pepper’s eyes. “Dr. Banner! Um… good morning,” she said and Bruce inclined his head, forcing an awkward smile when Clint and Natasha appeared behind Pepper. He saw a confused look on Clint’s face and a devious smirk on Natasha’s.

“Good morning, Ms. Potts,” he said, picking up his mug to take out the teabag. “Clint. Natasha,” he said, nodding to them. He looked down at himself then awkwardly tilted his head. “I’m just gonna go… well, I’ll leave you three to talk to Tony-“

“Why is everybody in my damn kitchen?” Tony’s voice announced his arrival. He edged past Clint, stopping to kiss Pepper’s cheek before turning, only to smirk when he spotted Bruce’s bright red face and bare chest. “Well now-“

Bruce sighed and rolled his eyes. “Not a _word_ , Tony-“

“’Good morning, sexy’ is three words,” Tony argued petulantly, smirking as he passed Bruce, but not without slapping him on the ass on his way past.

Pepper raised an eyebrow at the exchange before sighing. “Really, Tony? Can you ever have a friend you don’t sleep with?” she asked in exasperation and Tony snickered as he poured himself coffee.

Natasha just bit back a smirk, looking at Bruce. “Why Dr. Banner, I expected more from you,” she said and he chuckled weakly.

“Oh trust me, I’m ashamed of myself too,” he said, rolling his eyes as he took his tea and walked past them. “If anybody needs me, I’ll be drowning myself.” he joked, earning a small snicker from Clint as he passed him.

Pepper turned to Tony once Bruce was gone and put her hands on her hips. “Tony are you insane?! Do you have a death wish?!” he hissed and Natasha rolled her eyes.

“You haven’t worked that out before now?” she asked and Pepper shushed her.

She glared at Tony. “Tony, Bruce is a careful guy, how did you talk him into something as dangerous as _sex_?!”

Tony huffed. “For the record, I do _not_ have diseases-“

“Oh you know what I mean, Tony,” Pepper complained. 

Tony glared. “Yeah, but I’m trying to ignore that,” he said angrily. “For the last fucking time, Bruce has complete control over himself.”

Clint shrugged. “He did try to kill Natasha that time-“

Tony rolled his eyes. “There was a gigantic explosion, he fell into the fucking bowls of a strange helicarrier, and woke up after a blow to the head when he’s been on the run from the military for years. Being scared to death isn’t exactly what happens during sex, is it?!” he sniped and Natasha snickered.

“I don’t know, this is you we’re talking about,” she said and Tony gave her an exasperated look. She smiled peaceably. “For the record, I’m with you. I forgave him a long time ago for that, it’s like you said, he was terrified. I’d lash out too.”

Tony pointed at Natasha as he looked at Pepper. “I’m way more terrified of her than I am of Bruce, Pep.”

Clint shot Natasha a sidelong glance. “Everybody’s more terrified of Nat than Bruce, actually. She scares Steve so bad he wouldn’t even open his door when we stopped by on the way up,” he said and Tony gave Pepper a triumphant look.

“Okay, we’ve established sleeping with Bruce isn’t going to get me killed, what are you guys doing here?” Tony asked.

Pepper sighed. “Clint and Natasha are moving into their floors temporarily and I figured you should be aware.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Any reason I should know?” he asked and Natasha gave him a stony look he knew well. “Oh so I’m out of the loop, huh?”

“It’s nothing specific, Tony,” she said simply. “Just some rumblings of possible danger. Fury figured you should have backup on hand just in case.”

Tony frowned, stilling. “If there’s a possible danger to me, I should know about it,” he said and Natasha shook her head.

“Not to you. Not directly. Just some rumors that a target of a certain group may be in Stark Tower has Fury on edge.”

Tony narrowed his eyes and set his coffee down. “The only other possible targets in this building are Steve and Bruce. And Steve’s been living here for more than six months,” he said in a cool, measured tone.

Natasha inclined her head, looking him straight in the eyes. “I’m afraid I can’t say anything more specific, only a general sense, Mr. Stark.”

Tony didn’t miss what she was trying to say. He cursed and ran a hand through his hair, turning a grim look on the three in the kitchen. “Not a word to Bruce. Under no circumstances do you let him know anything, get me?” he asked, looking at each of their faces. “This is the safest place he can be right now if anybody has pinpointed his location. If he knows, he’ll run and God knows what will happen if he does that.”

“Don’t worry, Tony,” Pepper said with a small smile. “He’ll be fine.”

Outside the door, Bruce couldn’t help the way his heart pounded. He felt like he was choking on the air he breathed. He could feel his control slipping and he did what he could.

He ran for the elevator, praying JARVIS was advanced enough to know that he really needed to get somewhere safe _fast_.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Mr. Stark,” JARVIS interrupted Pepper mid-sentence.

Tony frowned. “JARVIS, you are better programmed than to talk when someone is telling me-“

“Sir, it is urgent. Dr. Banner’s ‘temper problem’ has made an appearance.”

Tony paled and Pepper startled. Natasha turned to Clint, who nodded. “I’ll get Ms. Potts out of here,” Natasha said and Tony nodded.

“I’ve got this, don’t worry-“

Clint chuckled. “Sorry buddy, I’m calling this one in-“

Tony grabbed him by his shirt. “The hell you are,” he said fiercely. He glowered at Pepper and Natasha before pushing Clint over to them. “I will handle the Other Guy, you just get out of here,” he said, then frowned. “JARVIS, where is he?”

“As he realized he was turning into The Hulk, he made it into the elevator and I took it up to your laboratory. It is the best reinforced areas of the building. I do believe I put him on test floor D where there is less equipment. He should be contained well, the floors and windows are rated to contain an explosion of magnitudes that would level other floors.”

Tony pushed past Clint and ran to the lounge. “JARVIS, I need my suit now!”

“Right away, Mr. Stark.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony was careful as he approached the lab from which he heard a lot of crashes and bangs. He opened the door and entered, cringing some when he saw the prototype of the Mark X in a crumpled heap in between a few lab tables and one smashed up wall. “Hey, you!” he called, feeling confidence that he wouldn’t be hurt as he walked towards Hulk.

The great green shape turned and as those green eyes landed on Tony, he let out an ungodly roar. Tony felt a pang at the wild look in the creature’s eyes. “It’s okay, Big Guy,” he said, holding up his hands as he walked forward. “I’m not gonna hurt you-“

“Bad men come for Banner!” the green one thundered. “Out of way!” Tony backed away, hands up as the Hulk started his way.

“Whoa, whoa hey!” He tried, backing a few more steps back. “Nobody’s coming from Dr. Banner.”

“METAL MAN LYING!” the terrified beast bellowed. “Metal man dangerous!”

Tony was slightly confused at the intelligence Bruce’s ‘mindless rage monster’ side seemed to possess. “Hey Hulk, it’s Tony. You know that, right?” he tried and Hulk grunted.

“Metal man Tony,” he said with a nod of confirmation. “Tony good but dangerous.”

Tony bit his lip before making a decision. “Okay, so you think I’m dangerous. You think I’m going to try and stop you… by hurting you?”

“Metal man scared. SCARED PEOPLE HURT ME!” Hulk roared loudly, making a move as if to swat at him.

Tony was _astounded_ to know that the creature was intelligent enough to recognize that people hurt him (and in conjunction, hurt Bruce) out of fear. It was incredible. Tony shook his head. “I’m not scared, buddy. I’m a friend, okay? I promise you, no bad men will come if I’m here.” He took a breath and then spoke. “I’m going to take off the suit now, okay? Metal man is going away and Tony’s coming out. You won’t hurt me, will you buddy?”

Hulk grunted suspiciously. “Everybody scared.”

As the suit began to peel itself away, starting with the face plate, Tony looked up at Hulk with his own eyes. “See? I’m not.” He stepped out of the boots and made his way towards Hulk slowly, hands held up so he could see he had nothing on him. “I promise, nobody is coming and I won’t let them hurt you, okay Big Guy? Tony is your friend.”

Hulk looked suspicious and backed up closer to the wall. “Hulk like Metal Man,” he said and Tony smiled brightly.

“Metal Man likes Hulk too, man. I think you’re great! Last time I saw you, you saved my life so I’m a big fan of Hulk,” he said brightly. He stopped far enough way that Hulk didn’t start feeling crowded and he smiled. “So I want to ask you to let Dr. Banner come back, can you do that?”

“NO!” he roared and Tony grabbed his ears, startled back a few steps. “BANNER WEAK! BAD MAN HURT BANNER!” he shouted and Tony shook his head.

“Easy, easy!” He held his hands out again. “I promise, I won’t let anything hurt Dr. Banner either. I like both of you. He’s a good friend, I wouldn’t let anybody hurt him, okay?” He held out his hand again. “But people aren’t afraid of Bruce, okay? You’re right, when people get scared, scared people hurt Hulk and I’m sorry, but if you stay out people will come and try to hurt you, okay?” He shook his head, trying his hardest to get the Hulk to trust him. “I need to take care of Banner right now. Can you let him back so I can do that?”

Hulk made a small sound, backing away some. “Banner weak.”

Tony shook his head. “He’s a lot stronger than people think. You may be stronger, but I promise, he can handle it right now. You can come back later if that changes, but I need him right now, oaky?”

Hulk grunted but nodded. “Hulk trust Metal Man,” was all he said before, much to Tony’s surprise, he sat down and curled his arms around his legs, almost like a scared child. Tony watched in awe as Hulk began to shrink and the green began to lighten until he was left with a naked, unconscious Bruce Banner lying in a heap in the middle of Tony’s wrecked testing lab.

Tony just sighed and shook his head. “Ah Bruce,” he said, walking over to the unconscious scientist. He knelt down and touched his face, brushing dust off of him. “Damn it,” he cursed.

Because Tony knew. He knew how Bruce would be when he woke up. He knew how Bruce would react to losing control and putting others in danger. 

He knew how hard it would be to keep him from running again.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Due to advanced warning from JARVIS of Bruce slowly waking up, Tony went downstairs so that he could be with Bruce when he fully woke up. He was just entering Bruce’s bedroom quietly when Bruce let out a broken groan and rolled over. Tony slowly crept closer. “How’re you feeling?” he asked softly as he walked around and looked down at Bruce.

Bruce blinked up at him with a frown. “Tony? What ha-“ Tony sighed when he saw Bruce’s eyes fly open and his skin go pale. “Oh God,” he choked out as he sat up, looking around.

Tony reached out and touched his arm. “Easy, easy Big Guy,” he said, giving him a comforting smile. “Everything’s fine. Nobody got hurt-“

“And what got destroyed?” Bruce asked, looking skeptical. “Somebody always gets hurt, he always hurts people, it’s what he does-“

Tony sighed and put a hand over Bruce’s mouth, earning an offended glare. “Calm down, Bruce,” he said. He moved his hand and leaned in to replace it with his lips, kissing Bruce softly. “I promise, nothing irreplaceable was damaged and nobody got hurt.”

Bruce scoffed. “Likely story-“

“JARVIS got you up to testing lab D. The only thing that I can’t just buy another of was the prototype for the Mark X and I have all the plans all that needs doing is having another copy manufactured. Seriously, it’ll take two days tops.” He patted Bruce’s chest as he pushed him back down. “You need to rest and trust me, okay?”

Bruce just shook his head, raising his hands up over his head to tug at his own hair in frustration. “This is just… great.” He groaned and put his hands over his face. “I don’t even remember what-“ He froze and lowered his hands, eyes wide. “Did Natasha hint that General Ross knows I’m here?” he asked in a deathly sharp and fearful voice.

Tony flinched slightly. “Nobody is going to hurt you-“

“Bullshit, Tony! You don’t know this guy, he’d rip the tower apart trying to get his hands on the Hulk!” Bruce cried as he sat up. “Shit, I-“

Tony groaned when Bruce tried to untangle himself from the bed, but quickly grabbed his arm and pushed him back down. “If you so much as hint at running, I’ll kick your ass, Banner,” Tony said, resolutely flopping halfway across Bruce, smiling at the doctor’s death glare.

“Tony, this is serious. They have more power behind them than even you-“

Tony rolled his eyes. “Bruce, I _created_ his power.” He cringed. “I like to not think about the fact that I was so naïve in the past, but the truth is, no weapons developer since Stark Industries stopped weapons production has come close to my work. Any big guns are my old things and I’ve had years to develop protections against that stuff.” He looked down at Bruce, who was still tense beneath him. Tony ruffled Bruce’s hair soothingly. “Look, I know you, Bruce.” He looked into his eyes, heart sinking at the fear he found there. “I know how you think. But I also know that truthfully, you are safer here than you ever will be on the run. You know as well as I do that if SHIELD never lost track of you, I highly doubt you’d get away from Ross’s surveillance if you left now that they have a trace on you.”

Bruce snorted. “You’re right. I should’ve never come here,” he said, and Tony flinched slightly. Bruce looked up at him and smiled apologetically. “I’ve done nothing but put you all in danger, Tony. My existence is nothing but dangerous,” he said and Tony sat up, turning to face away as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“I hate it when you say shit like that, Bruce,” Tony said, voice tight. “We’ve discussed this,” he said, standing to walk to the window. “When you say shit like that, when you ‘blame’ the Other Guy on you being _alive_ , it really pisses me off,” he said darkly. “You don’t understand how brilliant you are, you genuinely think the world would be better without you sometimes, and that is just… tragic, Bruce!” Tony turned back with a fierce look in his eyes. “You are one of the most brilliant minds in the entire world! I’m sorry that your life has been so bad, I genuinely am, but the way I see it, you have so much potential to do amazing things and yet I honestly think that Hulk is smarter than you sometimes,” he said and Bruce shot him a disbelieving look.

“Oh yeah, extoll my value to the world and then tell me a creature of nothing but destruction and rage, a creature that does nothing but destroy things and lives, is smarter than me, that’s a great job convincing me why being alive is worth it,” he spat and Tony flinched.

Tony walked closer. “Look, I know you won’t ever believe me, but all the Other Guy does is protect _you_. Sure, he has hurt people and broken shit, but there’s collateral damage with anything that’s terrified. He just happens to be gigantic, super strong, and indestructible. Watch the surveillance footage, he said it himself that you were weak and he wasn’t. I promise, Bruce, I understand how much trouble your life has had because of him, but wishing yourself out of existence is clearly not the answer,” he said before turning towards the door. “Get some sleep. I’ll bring dinner down here tonight,” he said as he left Bruce without another word.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony wasn’t at all surprised to look up from pouring himself a drink while listening to Clint explain to Pepper and Steve what he had done recently and see Bruce coming off the elevator. “Dr. Banner, I thought I told you to get some rest?” he attempted, but Bruce chuckled, awkwardly waving at the others, who had all stopped talking.

“To be fair, I thought I told you not to drink so much,” he said and Tony looked down at his glass after only one sip, then sighed before walking over to dump it down the sink, grabbing a bottle of water from under the bar instead. 

Tony came out into the room and held up the bottle as he walked down to sit on the couch. “You’re killing me, Bruce,” he said and Bruce offered him a small smile as he came down to join him.

“Actually, I’m helping keep you from killing yourself. Your liver is thanking me profusely,” he said and Tony couldn’t help but smile. He turned and gave an embarrassed little smile to the others. “So… I’m really sorry about this morning guys,” he offered, watching for the signs of fear he knew so well.

It was silent, painfully so, until Clint finally cracked a smile. “Well, walking in on you making tea half-naked WAS alarming, but it’s not like none of us have ever seen you naked before by this point,” he said, and Bruce let out a relieve laugh when the tension broke.

Pepper chuckled. “Could be worse, at least he was alone.”

Bruce made a face. “Trust me, if I had expected anybody that early in the morning, I’d have been dressed, I promise.

Tony shrugged, throwing his arm across the couch behind Bruce, ruffling his hair absently. “You’re lucky I was in the shower, I’m totally into nudity before nine,” he said and Pepper just cringed but nodded to confirm it when Natasha looked at her.

“There is a reason I got paid so much before he made me CEO,” she said, and Steve chuckled.

“And I thought the nudity was bad in the Army,” he joked, earning laughs from all around.

Tony turned to Bruce while the others started talking and stroked the hair at the nape of his neck. “You need to go rest,” he said, looking at the strained look on his face. He poked him in the neck. “You. Bed. _Now_ ,” he instructed and Bruce sighed dramatically, dropping his head back into Tony’s hand.

“Tony, I’m fine-“

“Go on, you have clothes in my room. Go sleep,” he said, jostling his head slightly.

Bruce chuckled tiredly. “Fine, fine, but you better not start drinking while I’m gone,” he said, shooting him a sidelong glance full of playful suspicion.

Tony smiled and leaned over to press his lips to Bruce’s temple. “Wouldn’t think of it, Dr. Banner,” he mumbled, moving to kiss him softly, lips lingering before he pulled back and swatted at his thigh. “Bed,” he directed and Bruce smiled.

“Alright I’m going, I’m going,” he said, standing up. He stretched with a yawn, then waved to the others as he started out. “I guess I’ll see you all later.”

When Bruce had disappeared down the hall to Tony’s bedroom, Pepper raised an eyebrow at Tony, who just raised his back at her. “What? You all saw him standing in my kitchen wearing my pajamas this morning, no reason to try and hide anything. I don’t think you’re all THAT stupid,” he said in exasperation.

Steve chuckled. “I think her confusion is in you showing genuine affection to another human being,” he said. He shrugged. “I’m still adjusting, but from my general understanding, shouldn’t you be _less_ affectionate with a man?” he asked, and Natasha tilted her head.

“Not to mention I remember when I was working for you-“

“Stalking me under cover,” Tony argued.

Natasha rolled her eyes. “The point is, Pepper and I fielded more women you had slept with that you didn’t even remember seeing before, so the idea of you showing genuine affection for someone that isn’t a robot is understandably confusing-“

“AI, my friends are AIs not simple robots!” Tony argued, then shrugged, drinking some of his water. “Besides, so what, I never liked any of the women you kicked out of my house. I have a total of two actual friends in my life, one of which is Pepper, and do you know how fun it is to not be the smartest person for once?” he asked pointedly.

Pepper chuckled. “Oh my God, call the press! Tony Stark just suggested he isn’t the smartest person in the world.”

Clint raised an eyebrow. “You’re telling me somebody that got himself turned into a big green monster is smarter than the man who built sustainable clean energy? Really, Stark?” he asked suspiciously.

Tony glared in exasperation. “He had an accident. I have accidents all the time! Ask Pepper, I blow shit up all the time-“

“He does,” Pepper confirmed.

Tony waved a hand at her. “His thing he blew up just happened to be a gamma radiation bomb they were testing to make super soldiers like Rogers over her. I get concussions he got a Hulk,” he said simply. “Comparatively, you could look at it from this point of view: he had one accident that just happened to go really bad. I have accidents at least once or twice a week. Since he’s been here, Bruce’s lab hasn’t been home to a single incident, not even a dropped beaker.” He smirked. “And I wasn’t kidding, technically, he’s smarter than me. He may not own it like I do, but Dr. Banner is a real genius with a higher suspected IQ than me. Far beyond the reach of ‘genius’. Bordering the suspected IQ of the elite smartest people in the entire world.”

Clint snorted. “No wonder Tony actually likes him, being outsmarted is probably hot to him,” he joked and Natasha rolled her eyes at his behavior.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony smiled in spite of himself, chest tightening at the sight of Bruce, wearing his lab coat and gloves, asleep with his chin propped in his hand at his table, a pad full of notes on the table beside him. Tony couldn’t explain what it was about Bruce that made him feel the way he did every time Bruce did _anything_ , but he liked it either way. Tony walked over and slid his arms around Bruce, kissing his neck as he shook him gently. “Wake up, Big Guy. You’re asleep at your lab table,” he said softly, kissing his earlobe.

Bruce grumbled and shifted, his head falling back against Tony, who chuckled and nipped at his ear. “Mmmmm, I fell asleep?” he asked, and Tony nodded, pressing a kiss to the back of his head.

“Yep. At your lab table, too,” he said, shifting to look over Bruce’s shoulder to look at his notes. “What _have_ you been working on? I’ve tried my best to keep out of your way, it’s all… non-buildy so it’s not my place,” he said and Bruce yawned, squeezing Tony’s hand before pulling out of his hold so he could pick up his notes and his pen.

“Okay, so before I came here, I was in Bangladesh,” he explained, and Tony nodded.

“Yeah, deworming orphans or something,” he said, gesturing for Bruce to continue.

Bruce chuckled, shaking his head. “Anyways, in a place called Chanta I was helped by this old medicine woman who had all these herbal remedies and she knew enough Hindi that we were able to communicate and work together, modern medicine and herbal remedies together. One of the things she did was give people who have bad dreams these leaves to chew,” he explained. “The effects from what I could tell were very similar to propranolol-“

Tony frowned. “The anti-anxiety medication?” he asked, and Bruce raised an eyebrow.

“It’s a heart medication originally, but yeah, it is used for anxiety usually off-label,” he said, eyeing Tony curiously.

Tony gave him a tight smile. “PTSD meds. I had nightmares and an unpredictable tremor in the arm that got hurt,” he said in a strained voice.

Bruce smiled sadly and squeezed his hand. “Yeah, it’s used to treat those too,” he said, then cleared his throat. “Anyways, the idea is that propranolol lowers norepinephrine, and I noticed that every time she gave me some of this plant when I had nightmares, it got a lot easier to control my ‘temper’,” he explained. “I needed the lab equipment to break the plant down determine the base chemicals, but I think I’ve isolated what compound specifically controls adrenaline production. The only step left is to synthesize that specific compound and stabilize it.” He drew a line around a compound and tapped it. “If I’m right- and I think I am- this can be the key to suppressing the Other Guy through medication.”

Tony shot him a look. “How suppressed are we talking?” he asked, and Bruce shrugged.

“I’ll have to adjust dosages but I should be able to keep him entirely locked up as long as I inject myself often enough,” he said, tapping the table. “No matter what he wouldn’t make an appearance, ever again.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “No matter what?” he asked and Bruce sighed.

“Yes, Tony. I could be in danger and he still couldn’t get out to hurt people-“ He froze and looked away.

Tony’s heart leapt into his throat. “Bruce, look at me,” Tony said suspiciously. He looked into his eyes, swallowing hard. “If this is your way of making yourself vulnerable enough for _harm_ , I will put you under full surveillance,” he warned. He looked into Bruce’s eyes, reading the guilt. “I swear to God, Banner, I will not let you hurt yourself-“

“Damn it, Stark, why is that where you go?” Bruce asked, standing up with his notes. “The reason I wanted to die was because I turn into a fucking monster. The point of this is to make me _safe_ -“

“And how is that?!” Tony demanded, following him. “Bruce, he _keeps you safe_! I get it, trust me, but the fact of the matter is that without the Hulk, you would’ve died a long time ago!” he argued and Bruce spun around, eyes wide.

“Tony, I need this! I need-“ He swallowed and looked aside. “I need to end this. It has to stop.”

Tony swallowed hard and held his gaze, refusing to look away. “Bruce, you do this and then turn around and hurt yourself, I swear I’ll never forgive you. Never,” he said fiercely, turning on his heel to storm out, leaving Bruce standing along in his lab.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony had to leave to go to a clean energy conference so he left Steve instructions to check in on Bruce, to make sure he hadn’t hurt himself (intentionally or due to a botched experiment with the synthetic adrenaline blocker). The entire time he was gone, he worried himself nearly sick that he would get a call that Bruce was hurt. It killed him because he’d never worried about anybody that much, not even Pepper and she had been his only friend for most of his adult life.

When Tony finally got back, he went to see Bruce, a little uneasy since the last time they spoke they argued. When he got to Bruce’s apartment, JARVIS let him go inside at Bruce’s invitation. Tony checked the lab and found it empty. He went into his apartment and couldn’t help a sense of relief when he followed JARVIS’s directions and found Bruce meditating in his green room.

When Tony knocked on the open door, Bruce exhaled slowly, then opened his eyes. “Hi, Tony,” he said softly.

Tony kicked off his shoes and removed his jacket, still in his suit from flying in, and walked over. He sat down in front of Bruce and copied his pose, legs crossed so that their knees touched. “Hey Bruce,” he said, and Bruce gave him a small smile. Tony took a breath and reached out to catch Bruce’s hands, lacing their fingers together on Bruce’s knees. “So funny story,” he started. “I just so happened to accidently insult this really great guy by accusing him of being suicidal a while back,” he said and Bruce gave him an amused chuckle.

“Oh yeah?”

Tony nodded, stroking his thumb across the Bruce’s knuckles. “I did, and I’ve come to realize it was a total overreaction, though to be fair,” he added, raising an eyebrow. “He did admit to attempting suicide before and even if it was wrong of me to accuse him of it, it had to be understandable that I just… hate the idea that someone so… amazing and brilliant and _good_ could leave the earth voluntarily.” He shrugged, looking down at their hands. “It was overdramatic of me but I only got angry because I was-“ He winced, humming before spitting out the word. “I was scared.”

Bruce chuckled softly. “You did make me angry but I understood,” he said softly. He lifted Tony’s hand to his mouth and kissed his knuckles. “I know a thing or two about anger coming from fear. It’s how the Hulk works.” He tilted his head. “But you know that.”

Tony nodded. “I guess I can understand why you decided to try and lock him away. Because try as I might, I can’t avoid being scared, so I know you can’t when you have ran for so much of your life,” he said, looking up. “I just… worry about you so much,” he admitted, eyes softening. “I don’t know what it means to worry so much about you, Bruce,” he all but whispered. “About the only other human being I’ve ever truly been scared for before is Pepper and she’s been my best friend for a third of my life. And it terrified me to think that you could- could do that and leave me on purpose,” he admitted weakly.

Bruce’s brow furrowed and the corners of his mouth turned down. “Tony?” he asked and Tony looked up with wet eyes.

“I don’t think I could handle you leaving, Bruce,” he admitted. He pulled Bruce’s hand to his mouth and held their clasped hands to his lips briefly. “A good man once told me that to be a man who has everything he could want…I have nothing.” He shook his head, knuckles white as he held Bruce’s hand tightly and reached out to hold Bruce’s face in his other hand. “But since you’ve been here, Bruce, I have something finally.”

Bruce felt his heart clench. “Oh Tony,” he whispered and Tony shook his head, clearing his throat.

“ _You_ are- are the only person I’ve ever met that actually _understands_ the things that I do. You see the world through similar eyes and I’ve never had anything like that. When I have you, I have someone I can share things with, someone I can enjoy life with. I don’t know if I could go back to having nothing, Bruce.” He swallowed hard. “The thought of losing you- especially of your own doing- hurts so bad, Bruce. The thought of you _leaving me_ by your own hand is just too much to even bear-“

Bruce laughed weakly and reached out to curl his fingers in Tony’s hair. “Shut up, Stark,” he said, tugging Tony into a kiss. Tony caught Bruce’s arms and pulled him as close as he could, clinging to him. Bruce groaned into the kiss and broke it to gasp for breath. “I’m not leaving you, Tony. I promise, I wouldn’t do that to you.” He pushed Tony back onto the floor and crawled on top of him, smiling when Tony pulled him flush, claiming Bruce’s lips as soon as he was within reach.

Right there on the floor, as they practically (and almost literally in the case of Tony’s shirt) ripped each other’s clothes off, desperate to feel each other as close physically as they were emotionally, at that moment, as they clutched at each other’s flushed, sweat-slick skin, as they gave in to feelings and emotions and pleasure without a care in the world for their location, Bruce realized something he had never honestly predicted had occurred.

In a haze of emotions and chemicals rushing round in his brain, as Tony touched him in a way that could only really be called ‘worshiping’, Bruce realized a truth he had never fully expected: Tony Stark loved him.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](http://heartsdesire456.livejournal.com/963645.html).
> 
> Sequel: [Caging The Beast](http://archiveofourown.org/works/520929)


End file.
